by Aaron Frishberg, NLG MLTF
The US military is an institution permeated with racism. This is not surprising for an institution which, in the modern era, has been largely devoted in its war efforts to attempting to stifle liberation movements in non-white countries around the world. Since the defeat of military legal conscription, the US has depended on the poverty draft to fill its lowest ranks, a method of recruitment which disproportionately targets marginalized communities of this country. Meanwhile, the officer corps has traditionally been disproportionately populated by southerners, coming from a sector of US society in which open racism is often tolerated, particularly on the right.
The NLG Military Law Task Force (MLTF) has identified the fight against racism as a priority area of work. The newly formed MLTF Anti-Racism Committee is up and running, and our purpose is not to assist the US military in becoming a more “diverse” force of oppression, as some military projects have declared, but rather to help GIs resist the crushing weight of racist oppression.
Among our first projects has been, with the help of Maria Santelli of the Center on Conscience and War, to identify the Freedom of Information officers of each branch of the US military, and to ask for the statistics on how many service members in that branch in each of the last five years have been disciplined or discharged for taking part in white supremacist activity. We are developing self-help materials for GIs confronting racist treatment where they are stationed, either in the form of institutional racism, white supremacist activity, or individual officers or enlistees whose racist practices contribute to an oppressive environment. The military branches have Equal Opportunity complaints available which are not very effective. We propose to advise on the most effective use of these, and on alternative remedies which can have greater impact.
We are monitoring the Pentagon’s supposed changes in diversity practices, and other supposed “equal opportunity” provisions endorsed by the Biden administration, so far have seen nothing but lip service.
We anticipate producing a webinar and training materials for attorneys and counselors assisting members of the military facing racist practices or white supremacist activity.
The Military Law Task Force and its Anti-Racism Committee, are open to all National Lawyers Guild members. For information on how to become involved, contact MLTF Executive Director Kathy Gilberd at kathleengilberd@aol.com, or MLTF and its Anti-Racism Committee chair, Jeff Lake at jeff@carpenterandmayfield.com.